


The Dangers of Reading Fanfiction

by marichatting



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Identity Reveal, two fics in one night?? what is going on with me????
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 16:33:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15490059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marichatting/pseuds/marichatting
Summary: Marinette reads a Ladynoir fanfiction out of curiosity and ends up getting addicted to Ladynoir fics. Then, on patrol with Chat, she has trouble focusing.





	The Dangers of Reading Fanfiction

**Author's Note:**

> I just posted another fic like four hours ago and I didn't even have the idea for this one until about two hours ago, so I'm really not quite sure HOW I'm posting this right now, but I guess I am. Two fics in one night, and both were started today. I think this is the most productive day I've had in my entire life.
> 
> This is kind of a counterpart to my fic [The Dangers of Writing Fanfiction, ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15224486) but it's not a sequel and there is absolutely no correlation between the two other than the plot involving fanfiction.

Obviously, she hadn’t intended to get addicted to reading Ladynoir fanfiction.

It had been a total and complete accident. Marinette had accidentally stumbled upon a Ladynoir fic on the internet, and she had read it out of mere curiosity.

It felt weird at first, since she knew she was reading about herself and one of her best friends falling in love, but the writer had talent. She quickly moved on from the awkwardness, and by the end of the story, her heart was fluttering, and her stomach was filled with butterflies.

As she hit the kudos button, she suddenly remembered what she was doing. She was reading fanfiction about herself and a boy for whom she did not have romantic feelings. Who does that?

She closed out the tab. She told herself that she was _not_ going to read any more Ladynoir fanfiction.

Evidently, Marinette was a big fat liar.

A mere hour later, she was still thinking about the fanfiction.

In all honesty, it _was_ cute. She had enjoyed it. Even if she didn’t want to date Chat, she couldn’t deny that it had been a cute fic.

So, taking a deep, shameful breath, she finally got her phone back out and searched for more Ladynoir fanfiction.

***

It was two o’clock in the morning, and she had hardly put her phone down since she gave in to the fanfiction.

She was just glad it wasn’t a school night; if it had been, she would have been completely and utterly _screwed._

By that point, she had read so many fics that she was beginning to forget what was real and what wasn’t.

None of the stories were particularly realistic, characterization-wise- after all, their writers only had a few interviews as reference for Ladybug and Chat Noir’s personalities and the dynamic between them, and those interviews hardly captured the way they truly acted when they had a moment of privacy together.

But that didn’t really matter. No matter how unrealistic they were, there were still so many of them that were so _compelling_ that Marinette couldn’t stop herself from reading them.

It truly was an addiction.

***

Marinette walked into school on Monday with the dark circles under her eyes barely hidden by concealer.

“Woah,” Alya said when she saw her friend. “No offense, Mari, but have you been having trouble sleeping?”

Marinette sighed as she sat down in her seat. “It’s not that,” she yawned. “It’s just… I’ve been reading a lot.”

Alya raised her eyebrows. “Really? You’ve been reading so much that you’re clearly _very_ sleep-deprived? What on Earth are you reading that’s keeping you up so late?”

Marinette mumbled a response as she refused to meet her friend’s eyes.

“What?” Alya asked.

Marinette mumbled again.

“You’ve got to speak up, Mari,” Alya told her.

“Ladynoir fanfiction,” Marinette repeated again, louder than was necessary. “I’ve been up reading Ladynoir fanfiction, okay?” She glanced around and realized that she had drawn the attention of a few people around her- including Adrien, who was now staring at her with wide eyes.

Alya’s face broke into an excited smile. “I knew you would become a Ladynoir shipper one day! It was only a matter of time before you came around!” She pulled her friend into a tight hug.

Marinette broke free of Alya’s embrace and scowled at her. “I’m _not_ a shipper. There are just a lot of good fics about them on the internet.”

Alya rolled her eyes. “Girl, if you didn’t ship them, why would you be reading enough fanfiction about them to stay up all night?”

“Just because there’s a lot of good fanfiction about them doesn’t mean I think they’d make a good couple in real life,” Marinette said defensively.

“Why don’t you think they’d make a good couple?” Adrien asked.

Marinette’s eyes widened a bit when she realized he was talking to her, and her cheeks turned pink. “I- um- I just don’t think they have chemistry,” she said with a forced nonchalant shrug.

“Well, I have to disagree,” Adrien said. “I think they have _loads_ of chemistry.”

“Heck yeah,” Alya said, extending her hand so they could bump fists.

“I just don’t see it,” Marinette said, trying not to think about her crush shipping her with another guy too much.

“Well, maybe you need glasses,” Alya said.

Marinette rolled her eyes.

***

During their patrol that night, Ladybug couldn’t stop thinking about the many fanfictions she’d read about herself and the leather-clad boy next to her.

She kept glancing over at him, taking more notice than she ever had before of his muscular body.

She shook her head. This was ridiculous.

However, try as she might, she couldn’t get those stories out of her head.

Her eyes kept lingering on Chat, and she grew clumsy with her yo-yo due to her preoccupied mind.

“Are you okay, LB?” Chat asked her with concerned eyes at one point. “You’re acting weird tonight.”

“I- I’m fine,” she said. “Just… tired.”

“Are you sure?” he asked, taking a step closer to her, his brow furrowed in concern. “You’re acting really strange. We can end patrol early, if you need to do that.”

Ladybug felt her breath hitch at his closeness to her. _Why?_ _He’s been much closer to me than this before,_ she thought. “I’m sure,” she lied. “Thank you, though.”

They continued with their patrol, and Ladybug spent the rest of the it focusing more of her energy on _not_ thinking about the fanfiction than on being Ladybug.

At the end of the patrol, they sat on a rooftop to talk, the same way they always did.

They chatted idly for a while as they stared up at the starry night sky, though Ladybug didn’t participate quite as much as usual.

“Ladybug,” Chat finally said, turning to look at her. “Are you _sure_ you’re okay?”

“Yes, Chat, I’m fine,” she assured him once again. “I’m just tired.”

He moved closer to her, and they were mere inches apart. “Ladybug… I know I flirt and goof around a lot, and I know you never take anything I say seriously because of it, but I mean every word of it. I _do_ care about you. A lot. If there’s something wrong, I want to help you.”

Ladybug swallowed hard, her heart racing as she stared into his earnest green eyes.

“There’s nothing wrong,” she finally said softly, her voice barely louder than a whisper. “I’ve just been staying up late the past few days.”

He furrowed his brow. “Why?”

“Reading,” she said shortly.

She noticed a slight shift in his demeanor. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. “Reading what?”

She could feel herself blushing, and she turned her head away from him. “None of your business.”

“Oh, come on, Bugaboo,” he said with a teasing grin, moving closer to her. “Tell me.”

She shook her head stubbornly and looked at him through the corner of her eyes.

He pouted with pleading eyes. “Please? Pretty please?”

She sighed resignedly. She had never been never good at resisting his puppy dog eyes when it came to simple matters that couldn’t possibly reveal her identity, but somehow, reading fanfiction had made it even more difficult.

She stood up and took a few steps away from him. “You have to promise you won’t laugh.”

He stood, too, and raised three fingers on his right hand in the air. “Cat’s honor.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes, avoiding his gaze as her face burned. “I was… reading fanfiction.”

Chat stepped toward her. “For what fandom, milady?”

“None of your business,” she grumbled again.

“Please?” he begged.

She huffed and crossed her arms. Her face felt like it was about to burst into flames. “It… it was Ladynoir fanfiction.”

He took a couple more steps toward her, mostly closing the distance between them. He hooked a finger under her chin, tilting her head up to look at him, and Ladybug noted that he didn’t look particularly surprised.

“Do you ship us, Bugaboo?”

“No,” she scowled defiantly at him. “We just have talented fans. There are some really good writers who ship us.”

He grinned at her, and her heart skipped a beat. “Are you lying?”

She hesitated. “No.”

“You hesitated.”

“No, I didn’t.”

“Yes, you did.”

Ladybug rolled her eyes and began to step away from him. “Whatever. You’re being ridiculous.”

“Am I?” he asked, grabbing her by the hand to stop her. Never breaking eye contact with her, he leaned down and kissed her knuckles.

She blushed furiously, unable to tear her eyes away.

“Aw, my lady’s as red as her suit,” he teased, leaning toward her with a fond smile on his face.

“I- I am not,” she protested, turning her head to look down at her feet, but not being able to bring herself to move away from his touch.

Once again, he put a gloved hand under her chin and tilted her head up to look at him. “It’s cute,” he told her.

They simply stood there for a long moment, staring into each other’s eyes. Ladybug’s heart was pounding violently.

“Can I kiss you?” he whispered, his eyes suddenly anxious.

Her breath hitched, and she found herself nodding.

Then Chat’s lips were on hers, and her eyes were sliding closed as she melted into the kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his neck as his arms moved to her waist to pull her closer to him. His lips were warm and soft, and despite the wild, carefree personality he displayed as Chat Noir, he was a gentle kisser.

Their lips parted after a while, though they stayed locked in their embrace.

“I’m glad it’s you, Marinette,” he whispered into her ear after a moment.

Her eyes flew open, and she pulled away from him quickly. “What- how- how did you know?”

He smiled fondly at her. “You were exhausted from reading Ladynoir fanfiction in class today, too,” he explained gently. “I figured it couldn’t have been a coincidence.”

She furrowed her brow. “In class?” she repeated. “You- you mean we’re-“ she stopped, studying his face and thinking about every boy in her class.

She only had one classmate with blond hair and green eyes.

“Adrien?” she breathed.

He smiled at her. “Yeah.”

The next thing she knew, her arms were back around his neck, and she was hugging him tightly.

He laughed and hugged her back. “I take it you’re not disappointed it’s me?”

She smiled into his shoulder. “I’m _so_ glad it’s you.”

**Author's Note:**

> Feel free to comment with feedback and/or make a request! Thanks!
> 
> -Emma
> 
> Find me on Tumblr: [squishychatnoir ](http://squishychatnoir.tumblr.com)


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